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Poster (c) Touchstone Pictures
In the past few years, we’ve had a mild onslaught of attempts for a comeback of the western genre. Examples include American Outlaws and Texas Rangers, and they’ve both been subpar. I’ve never been a huge connoisseur of western movies (in fact, I think I’ve only seen two: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which is more of an adventure, and Shanghai Noon, which is more of a comedy). However, Open Range is a sign that all hope may not be dead and gone. Not only is it a revival of the western, but also a good movie in its own right. The acting is good, script is usually good, and it’s never boring.
Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner star as two of the most likable antiheroes in a western since Butch and Sundance. As Boss and Charley (respectively), not only do they deliver great chemistry but also act well, with Duvall probably garnering an Oscar nomination for his role. It’s his best work since To Kill a Mockingbird. Boss and Charley are free grazers, along with Button (Diego Luna) and Mose (Abraham Benrubi). The actual story is quite complicated, but it’s very good, and there are no plot holes or anything of the like, which is a well thought out story (except the end, which was just tacked on, but I’ll get to that later).
Open Range is one of the slowest movies of the year. It takes its time moving forward with the plot, so we get some real character development and care about the characters. Soon into it, we know as much about the characters as they know about each other. Also, Open Range looked so authentic I felt like I was in more than just a set, but the actual Old West. If that wasn’t enough, the cinematography (which also better be nominated) showed us that it just wasn’t a backlot at Disney World. It’s one of the most realistic sets I’ve seen.
However, the script, although quite good for most of the movie, tried to put in a love story haphazardly at the end, which almost caused the very good first part to go to waste. Why should we care about Charley falling in love with Sue (Annette Bening), someone who didn’t have much characterization to begin with? It seems like it was just tacked on to make this movie too long, which it was by a few minutes. Overall, however, Open Range is an entertaining, never boring, but flawed movie that you’ll probably like.
Rated R for violence.
Review Date: August 22, 2003